What is High Cholesterol?

Cholesterol is a waxy substance found in the blood stream and all the cells in your body. Your body needs cholesterol. It uses it for a number of functions that it has to perform. But high levels of cholesterol in the blood can lead to coronary disease and ultimately a heart attack. Where does cholesterol come from? Cholesterol has 2 main sources. Your body makes its own and many foods that we eat contain varying amounts of cholesterol. But most cholesterol comes form your body. Your liver produces about 1000mg per day. But when you eat foods that are high in saturated fats (particularly trans fats) Your liver goes into overdrive mode. Pumping out more cholesterol that you will ever need. Some o of the cholesterol gets removed from your bloodstream by the liver But some of it ends up in the arteries where it combines with other substances and forms plaque.Plaque is really bad! It raises blood pressure, which could eventually lead o a heart attack. Plus it can break off and form blood clots that could lead to a stroke. As in all stories there is a good guy and a bad guy. And in this case the good guy or good cholesterol is HDL ("H" for "Healthy"). HDL picks up bad cholesterol and carries it to your liver where it gets passed from your body a high HDL level will protect you from a heart attack and stroke, a low level puts you at greater risk. The bad guy is LDL ("L" for "lazy"). LDL does not want to help you. It just wants to sit in your arteries and turn to plaque. Higher LDL levels could mean an increased risk of heart disease.